Rockets Get Set to Open Regular Season vs. Blazers
The Kelowna Rockets open up the 2017-2018 regular season tomorrow night at home against the Kamloops Blazers.
Assistant Coach Kris Mallette has a simple message for his team before game one.
“Get a hit, take a hit, get into it as early as you can, keep it as simple as possible, move your feet, all those simple cliches that you hear all the time, but first and foremost go out there and have fun,” Mallette said. “We’ve worked over the last month and a bit to get to this point. We have 71 more games after this one tomorrow night and we just want to continue to get better night in and night out, so it’s best to get off on the right foot.”
Kelowna is excited to have Kole Lind, Cal Foote, Braydyn Chizen and Tomas Soustal back with the club and ready for the home-and-home weekend with Kamloops after returning from their respective NHL camps late this week.
The Rockets and Blazers are extremely familiar as last year the two clubs met a total of 10 times in the regular season with Kelowna winning four of those. The 2016-2017 season series looked like this:
Sept. 23 – Kelowna (2) at Kamloops (9)
Sept. 24 – Kamloops (1) at Kelowna (5)
Nov. 1 – Kamloops (5) at Kelowna (1)
Dec. 27 – Kamloops (2) at Kelowna (3)
Dec. 28 – Kelowna (1) at Kamloops (5)
Jan. 6 – Kelowna (1) at Kamloops (3)
Jan. 7 – Kamloops (2) at Kelowna (3) – SO
Jan. 27 – Kamloops (3) at Kelowna (2)
Feb. 8 – Kelowna (0) at Kamloops (6)
Feb. 24 – Kelowna (8) at Kamloops (2)
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The clubs also met in the first round of the WHL Playoffs, and the Rockets eliminated the Blazers in six games to advance to the second round.
Kelowna and Kamloops are scheduled to face each other eight times total this regular season with the first of those on Friday.
Game one of the 2017-2018 regular season is Friday night. Puck drop will be at 7:05pm at Prospera Place.
The Rockets and Blazers are right back in action the following night, Saturday, September 23rd, at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops to wrap up the opening weekend. Puck drop is at 7:00pm.
Tickets are available for Rockets home games through selectyourtickets.com, at the Prospera Place box office or by phone at 250-762-5050.
